Retired Tennessee Plant Pathologist Wins Top American Rose Society Honor

In the world of ornamental horticulture, few honors carry the weight of the American Rose Society’s Gold Honor Medal, and few researchers have earned it as thoroughly as Mark Windham. The retired plant pathologist, a professor emeritus in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, received the society’s highest accolade on October 3 at the 2026 ARS National Convention and Rose Show in Nashville, Tennessee. The award capped a career spanning nearly four decades, one devoted largely to understanding and controlling the diseases that threaten one of the world’s most beloved garden plants. Craig Dorschel, president of the American Rose Society, presented the medal during the convention proceedings.

The Gold Honor Medal is awarded annually and represents the pinnacle of recognition bestowed by the American Rose Society, the national organization dedicated to the appreciation, cultivation and study of roses. Selection is not taken lightly. Eight members of the society’s National Prizes and Awards Committee determine the recipient, and candidates must meet a demanding threshold: at least twelve years of service on a national level and a sustained record of diligently provided, outstanding meritorious service. Those criteria immediately distinguish lifetime contributors whose influence extends across the country rather than within a single region or institution, and they help explain why the medal has historically gone to individuals whose names are spoken with reverence among dedicated rose growers.

For Windham, the honor carried personal as well as professional significance. When he surveyed the list of distinguished rosarians who had received the medal before him, he described himself as beyond honored to join them in the distinction. He noted that working for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture for as long as he did was a privilege, and he credited the countless colleagues, mentors and collaborators who made his achievements possible. That emphasis on collective effort reflects a career built as much on partnership and outreach as on laboratory science, a combination that ultimately defined his professional legacy.

Windham’s scientific portfolio reads like a catalog of the most damaging rose pathogens in North America. Over the course of his tenure, he studied and developed management strategies for black spot, Cercospora leaf spot and downy mildew, and more recently he turned his attention to rose rosette disease, in which he is now considered one of the nation’s leading authorities. Each of these diseases presents distinct challenges. Black spot, caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae, produces the familiar dark lesions and premature defoliation that weaken plants season after season. Cercospora leaf spot, driven by Cercospora rosicola, similarly mars foliage and can compromise plant vigor in humid climates. Downy mildew, caused by Peronospora sparsa, can defoliate roses rapidly under cool, moist conditions and is particularly feared in nursery production, where outbreaks can devastate inventory before symptoms are even visible.

Rose rosette disease, the most recent focus of Windham’s work, is arguably the most alarming threat facing roses in the United States today. The disease is associated with a virus transmitted by the eriophyid mite Phyllocoptes fructiplans, and it produces grotesque symptoms: excessive thorniness, distorted leaves, abnormal reddening of new growth and deformed, proliferating shoots that give the condition its name. There is no cure once a plant is infected, and affected roses typically decline and die within a few years. Because the microscopic mite vectors spread the pathogen efficiently, and because symptomatic plants can serve as reservoirs for new infections, management depends on early detection, rapid removal of infected plants and coordination across gardens, nurseries and landscapes. The disease has swept through rose plantings across much of the country, making authoritative expertise on its behavior and containment exceptionally valuable to both commercial growers and home gardeners.

That expertise did not remain confined to research plots. Windham joined the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture in 1985, and over the following decades he shared his research and expertise at thousands of events with producers, industry professionals and rose societies across the country. This kind of sustained engagement is the lifeblood of agricultural extension work, translating peer-reviewed findings into practical guidance that growers can apply in the field and gardeners can apply in their own backyards. For an ornamental crop like roses, which is cultivated by millions of hobbyists as well as by commercial nurseries, the gap between laboratory knowledge and everyday practice is bridged almost entirely by scientists willing to teach, listen and answer questions at meetings large and small.

Windham’s collaborative approach extended to the written record as well. In 2018, he partnered with Extension ornamental plant pathologist Alan Windham and other colleagues to write the e-book A Guide to Rose Diseases and Their Management, a resource designed to put diagnostic and control information directly into the hands of those who need it. Written guides of this kind serve a dual purpose: they consolidate scattered research findings into a coherent, accessible format, and they provide a durable reference that can be updated as new pathogens emerge and management recommendations evolve. For rose growers confronting an unfamiliar disease symptom, such a resource can mean the difference between an early, effective intervention and a lost planting.

Mark and Alan Windham retired from the University of Tennessee in 2022, but retirement has not diminished their advocacy. Both have continued to champion residential and commercial rose production across the Southeast and beyond, a region where heat, humidity and the continuing spread of rose rosette disease make disease management an ongoing concern. Their continued presence in the rose-growing community underscores a truth about plant pathology that extends well beyond a single institution: the relationships between researchers and the growers they serve do not end with a retirement ceremony, particularly when emerging threats still demand experienced eyes and hard-won judgment.

Institutional leaders were quick to connect the national honor to Windham’s long association with the University of Tennessee’s research infrastructure. Hongwei Xin, dean of UT AgResearch, noted that Windham conducted his solution-oriented research in Crossville, Tennessee, at the Plateau AgResearch and Education Center, and that his work helped establish the facility’s reputation at the forefront of rose disease research and outreach. Xin added that even after Windham’s retirement, the center considers it an honor to carry on the mission of providing data-driven information for those throughout the industry. Field research centers like the Plateau facility occupy a crucial position in plant pathology, offering the controlled outdoor conditions, disease nurseries and regional climate exposure that greenhouse work alone cannot replicate, and the diseases studied there reflect the real pressures growers face.

Praise from the institute’s top leadership accompanied the announcement as well. Keith Carver, UTIA senior vice chancellor and senior vice president, expressed gratitude on behalf of the institute for what he described as an exceptional research career, calling the award no small feat and stating that it honors a man who has elevated the university nationally for decades. Carver added that he could not think of anyone more deserving. The Gold Honor Medal is not, however, the only high distinction the American Rose Society has conferred on Windham. In 2023, the society awarded him the Joseph and Marion Kilma Medal for Excellence in Rose Education for his exceptional contributions to horticultural education. Receiving both medals during a single career places Windham among a small and select group of recipients worldwide, a dual recognition that mirrors the two halves of his professional life: rigorous research into the pathogens that plague roses, and tireless education of the people who grow them.

Subject of Research: Recognition of a plant pathologist's lifetime research on rose disease management

Article Title: Mark Windham receives Gold Honor Medal from the American Rose Society

Article References: Mark Windham receives Gold Honor Medal from the American Rose Society. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: Mark Windham, American Rose Society, Gold Honor Medal, plant pathology, rose rosette disease, black spot, Cercospora leaf spot, downy mildew, University of Tennessee, horticulture, plant disease management, agricultural extension